


Pirate Boys in Space

by fleetwood_mouse (orphan_account)



Category: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Popslash
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Humor, M/M, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-07
Updated: 2012-11-07
Packaged: 2017-11-18 04:08:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/556742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/fleetwood_mouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kevin is reeling from a tragic loss when he meets a stranded spaceship captain who quickly enlists his help in a quest that takes them across the galaxy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pirate Boys in Space

**Author's Note:**

  * For [johnnyzbabe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnnyzbabe/gifts).



> DISCLAIMER: I am in no way affiliated with any of the people mentioned herein and I have no intention to suggest that any of them behave this way in real life. In fact, I would be shocked if they did. This is a work of fiction, from which I make no profit whatsoever (except for the fun I had in writing it). 
> 
> Because of my lack of science fiction writing experience, this story is also heavily influenced by many other works of fiction (particularly the Star Wars trilogy), with regard to which I have no affiliation or claims whatsoever.
> 
>  
> 
> Miscellaneous Warnings  
> ・ This work contains references to injuries inflicted as punishment (non-sexual).  
> ・ I wrote most of this on my phone on the train and edited it later. Any errors are entirely my own and I would greatly appreciate any feedback you may have!

The twin suns beat bright overhead and the heavy, prickly heat made the air quiver all the way from the piercingly white sky down to the shimmery ripples of the dunes, but the two men crouching side by side hadn’t wrapped themselves in layers of thick cloth to ward of the harsh rays. If it wasn’t for the sheen of sweat on their forearms and necks, it would almost seem like neither could feel the heat. The taller of the two leaned back on his heels and opened a rucksack, whose coarse cloth was bleached as white as his skin was brown. The smaller man (a teenager, this one, on the edge of manhood) reached out a slim-wristed arm, just as brown, and uninvited, began to rummage through the sack, his dancing fingertips emerging a moment later with a parcel of checkered-cloth, worn thin.   
  
“You’re gonna need these first if you don’t wanna make yourself sunsick now.”  
  
The taller man had removed two canteens from the sack and he now proffered the newer one to his companion. “Tell you, Bri, you gonna work, you gotta keep your water up. It’s not like school, now. You use so much more…”  
  
Brian grinned toothily, unscrewing the cap to take a long swig.   
  
“Slow, now, you hear? You go too fast, you’re apt to make yourself even worse. And that’s gotta last you now. It don’t come cheap and we only got so much for today. ”  
  
“Shoot, Kev, I told you I was say that, what with you bout to tuck into your lunch with all that grease over your face?” He grinned toothily and held out the scrap of cloth to his cousin.   
  
Kevin reached out his hand and Brian suddenly snapped the rag back out of his reach, dangling it in front of his face to smiling a challenge ear to ear. Quicker than he could’ve thought, Kevin’s right hand swooped in to bonk the side of his head, then the left hand snatched the rag from his dovetail fingers. Brian looked up to see that Kevin was smiling back.   
  
“Only reason I got this grease and you don’t,” said Kevin, wiping his face, “is you can’t even fix anything worth using oil in anyway. No one gets a chance to get dirty until they get smart enough… so don’t worry. I’m the only one of us gonna be getting dirty.”   
  
Brian’s laugh was good-natured. “Let’s see how long. Let us see just how long you get to keep working those engines when they see what your cousin can do.”  
  
Kevin spread the dirty rag out on the sand beside him and reached into the satchel. He unwrapped a small parcel of strips of dried meat and tore into one. His teeth worked at the tough, salty jerky.   
“You know,” he washed it down with a swig of water, “they ever do let you at the big stuff, you don’t use a rag to clean yourself up. Mostly just spreads it around. Best thing for the job is flour, Bri. Soaks up the grease. If you can get it, that is.”  
  
“Flour? No thank you. You get me some flour and you know what I’m gonna do?” Brian gently unfolded the thin checkered cloth, breaking into a grin as he revealed a stack of flatbread. “I don’t care how greased up I get, all my flour is for making these.” He handed one off to his cousin, tore into another with his teeth. “Mmm mmm.”  
  
Kevin wrapped the jerky inside the dense bread and took a bite. Brian popped the stalk of a pickled vegetable into his mouth. They chewed in companionable silence, Brian blue eyes gazing up at the glaring, accusatory sky, Kevin’s green eyes focusing on nothing in particular as he let slip away thoughts of the afternoon’s work ahead.   
  
“Why you wanna eat outside, huh? So bright. And the sun won’t hardly make you more handsome.” Both had been born with a more porcelain complexion; it had taken years of Sentosa’s harsh light and heat to build the strong, protective shell they had now. It had taken Kevin particularly long; Brian swore he could remember Kevin still being raw and pink when he was born. Kevin thought he was lying, of course, but didn’t mind. He liked that Brian could think of him from so early. Or that Brian thought he could, anyway.  
  
Kevin swallowed the last bite of his bread. It went down a hard lump now that he’d drunk all the water he could ration for lunch. “Dunno. Like to see a change, I guess.”  
  
“A change? You wouldn’t know one if you saw one, not living around here.”  
  
“Still, though.” Kevin shined a piece of fruit on the only clean corner of his work shirt. “Gets me out of that stuffy hangar. All that banging, Lou yelling.” He tossed the fruit up and Brian’s wrist snapped to catch it deftly in mid-air. “The grease, the smoke. Away.”  
  
Brian looked at Kevin incredulously; then broke into a smile, eyes shining. “Away? You love it. You know you love it.”   
  
Kevin smiled back and began to polish another piece. Brian bit into his portion with gusto. The sound of his teeth breaking through the skin to the crisp, juicy flesh within felt like sliding into a pool of water. Neither would’ve known that feeling, but both always felt the hairs on their arms stand up for the small drops that fell through the air as Brian tore through the fruit with his teeth: rain.   
  
***********************************************************************  
 _Grinding.  
Clanging.  
Sparks flying._  
  
Kevin closed his eyes and set his jaw.  
  
 _The banging.  
The shouting._  
  
How could this whooshing in his ears keep filling up his skull, swirling and pushing and pulling but never drowning it out? He squeezed his eyes tighter and let his head fall into his hands  
  
 _The smell  
(oil metal fear sweat singed hair blood)_  
  
 _The screams  
(shock panic no please help)_  
  
 _The guns  
(stay I said now don’t you even my money)  
Those dark eyes_    
He couldn’t take it anymore. He couldn’t stand to remember.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
“So there she was, on her back with her legs –”  
  
(...abductions have recently been reported in nearby systems)  
  
“And that big red thing of his, he was waving it around like –”  
  
(...mostly adolescent and teenage boys)  
  
“...didn't know what to do, so I reached for my –”  
  
(...ago, close to home, the)  
  
“... was on fire! You'd never –”  
  
(...shot down within the atmosphere)  
  
“...then he said, ‘Ouch!’ And I said, ‘Ohhh! I thought it was –’”  
  
“You gonna order or you gonna wish you gonna order.”  
  
“Oh, the, OK. Um. I, sir, will have... what's that? What's he having? I'll have that. Please.”  
  
He fidgeted in his stool and met the glare of the large man behind the bar.  
  
“And, so, uh, he said, Ouch! And I –”  
  
“You can't gonna have that if you can't paying.”  
  
“Right, ok. Up front then. Here you are. And one for him, too. He looks like he needs it.”  
  
The Milean bartender scowled, wrung his hand towel, and disappeared into the back.  
  
The man on the stool turned his attention to the telecaster newscast for a moment, then started as the bartender slammed down a squat cup of dull metal in front of him. Peering over the rim at the dubious color of its contents, he wondered if he had made the right choice. Why would anybody willingly ingest something that looked like that? He gave it a sniff. Whoa. He took a cautious sip, then a gulp, then succumbed to a coughing fit. Whoa.   
  
The bartender banged a second cup in front of the other man, who blearily lifted his head from the counter to regard this new development. Chris took another drink.   
  
“Last one you gonna having, even if he gonna buying. No more. You.”  
  
Chris was feeling happy. This stuff was great. He raised his cup as if to make a toast. The bartender scowled. His new drinking partner didn’t seem to notice. Wordlessly, he dragged his own cup across the counter and nestled it in the crook of his elbow, then dropped his head back over his crossed arms. Evidently he was planning on saving it for later.   
  
“He looks pretty bad,” stage-whispered the elfin man, leaning co-conspiratorially across the dingy counter. “Almost as bad as she looked after –”  
  
“Yes, bad, yes.” The bartender interrupted. Having accepted this maniac’s jabbering as inevitable, he decided to engage him in conversation if only to save himself from the continuation of that utterly inane story.  
  
“He did working here, but then he don't working and now he can't gonna working here no more, because very bad him. Don't working, only sitting drinking. And I tolding him, you can't gonna get money.”  
  
Chris took another sip of his drink. Wow. No wonder his tall friend looked so bad; whatever it was, this stuff worked.  
  
“No,” he agreed sagely. “You can't gonna get money. Not acting like that.”  
  
“But... is a shame, you know?” continued the bartender, eager to nip any potential monologues in the bud. “He is... is, uh, uma. No being good with customers, no, and dirty, yes, but he can being very uma.”  
  
Uma? Chris stole a glance at his neighbor, hoping for a clue. Green-eyed? Dirty? No, he'd already said that. Hmm... doesn't care if people talk about him? Maybe. But why would that be such a shame to lose? Maybe on Milea -- he burped and tasted fire.  
  
“What do you mean, uma?”  
  
“Uma.” Said the bartender. “U-ma.”  
  
Chris shook his head.  
  
“He is,” here the man mimed grabbing something in each hand and twisting. “Can fix. Many things.”  
  
Really.  
  
“Cold nights, the heater, he can fixing. Anything. The stove, when…” the bartender shrugged. “Don't cooking much here, but... he fixing. And now –”  
  
“What's his name?”  
  
Taken aback by the sudden sharpness in Chris’s voice, the bartender blinked once, twice.  
  
“His name,” Chris repeated.  
  
“He's name, Kay-Bin.”  
  
“Kay-Bin.” Chris processed this. Antilar? Or maybe... but with skin tanned like that, he must have been born here. And the Sendosans didn't take kindly to off-worlders, which was why he was having so much fucking trouble getting of this shitbox of a planet. And if this guy was also a persona non grata, nobody would sell him the parts or the fuel, either.   
  
“He, uh, from around here?”  
  
The bartender nodded, squinted, swallowed.  
“KAY-bin,” he said pointedly.  
  
Oh. “Kevin,” said Chris. “Kevin. Kevin. Kev.”  
  
The man looked up.  
  
“Look, I've got a red phalan that uh, I didn't land it so well. And it doesn't - it really, really doesn't like sand. Could you get me off this rock?”  
  
Kevin stared at him incredulously, blankly, for several seconds. Maybe he didn't speak Common? Or maybe he'd just been drinking, well, whatever these were for hours.  
  
“A what?” He finally replied with the rounded, lilting local tones that Chris had come to hate so much.  
  
“A red phalan.”  
  
“S’what I though you said but, shit. Why would anyone bring a ship like that to a place like this?”  
  
“That doesn’t matter.” The bartender raised his eyebrows. A story he wouldn’t tell? This guy? “Just tell me. Can you fix it?”  
  
Kevin nodded at the telecaster. It was the news, repeating that same abduction shoot-down story.  
  
“You got one of those in there?”  
  
Shit. Chris shook his head. “Had to sell it.”  
  
Kevin nodded, almost approvingly. “When I get your ship flying, you gotta take me with you.”  
  
“I can arrange something. Where are you going?”  
  
Kevin met Chris’s eyes and shook his head almost imperceptibly. Then he downed his drink in one gulp, coughed, and burped. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he said, “Morning comes, I’ll take a look. Go down, see what parts I can get. Ain’t no one gonna sell ‘em to you, not with pale skin like that.”  
  
Yeah, yeah, yeah. “Can we go now?”   
  
“Now?”  
  
“Yes, now.” Chris really wanted to get out of here. He turned to the bartender, who was polishing a tin cup with a cloth that could only make it dirtier. “Could you make him something to uh… undo the last something you made him? And one for me too.”  
  
The bartender grunted. “Maybe I have. In back. But it is costing.”  
  
These people. “Fine. Sure. Make it quick.”  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Dark. Cold. Alone.  
  
He lay on the floor, lacking the strength or will to get up. So hungry, so cold. So full of despair.   
  
AJ lifted his head to inspect the hole in the navigation panel, all the parts which had been torn out of it, rendering the ship inoperable.   
  
Yeah, that fucking settled it. He was gonna die here. Hurtling through space, dark, cold, and alone.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Chris yawned and let his head fall back to his shoulder. He was huddled crouched against the cold metal wall. Kevin had been poking around for what seemed like forever. This place got cold at night. It was hard to believe how stiflingly hot it was during the day.   
  
He supposed he could retire to his bunk, which was actually soft and warm, but he felt like he needed to keep an eye on this strange mechanic he had encountered. Plus, whatever pungent drink the Milean had whipped up in the back had left him feeling bizarre and jumpy.   
  
Kevin wasn’t much of a talker, which usually suited Chris fine. He just didn’t appear to be much of a listener either. That was all right when Chris had to explain how exactly he had gotten his ship into this mess – anyone else would certainly have had a lot of questions that Chris didn’t really want to answer. If he was always this stoic (and if Chris was very, very lucky) he might be able to fulfill his promise to get him off this planet without arousing too much suspicion.   
  
Kevin emerged from the compartment he had been examining. His clothes, which had been pretty dirty originally, were now smudged with oil. He seemed to have sobered up. He looked relaxed.  
  
“I know what parts you need. I can get them in the morning.”  
  
Short and sweet. “All right. About paying for them…” Chris paused. Could he trust this guy enough to send him off with the little money he had left? Would they still sell him the parts if Chris came along? “I’m not sure they’ll sell us the parts if I’m with you,” he ventured.  
  
Kevin frowned. “My friend… he will, I think. And I don’t want – it’s better if you come.” He broke eye contact.   
  
“Well, that’s settled then… You can get cleaned up in there, if you want,” Chris pointed. “And you saw where the bunks are.”   
  
“Yep.”  
  
For lack of anything else to say, Chris stretched and said, “Well, I’m gonna get some rest. Early morning tomorrow. I want to get out of here as fast as I can.”  
  
“Yep.” Kevin chewed his lip.  
  
“You can, uh… goodnight.”  
  
“Night.”  
  
What a weird guy.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
 _Outside the doors to Howie’s shop, Brian stopped him. He smiled, blue eyes reflecting the rays of the twin suns.  
“Listen, cuz,” he said. “Thank you.”  
Kevin turned. “For what now?”  
  
“For getting me this job. For convincing Howie to take me on.” Brian couldn’t hide his happiness. “It’s gonna change my life.”  
Kevin smiled back. “No problem, Bri. You’re family. I love you.”  
  
“I love you, too.” Brian smiled and opened the door.  
  
_  
“It’s gonna change my life…”  
Kevin shut his eyes tight against the darkness and buried his face in his pillow.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
He felt his eyes boring holes into the heavy metal door, yet he couldn’t really focus his vision. He could feel a weight in his stomach yet it seemed to be in his throat. He swallowed hard.  
  
“Uh, Kevin? Are you gonna stare down that door? I might not be from around here but I’d guess there’s a better way to get in. And it’s fucking hot out here.”  
  
Kevin snapped his head up and regarded Chris. He was obviously uncomfortable in the Sendosa heat. He was sweating profusely and Kevin could already see the beginnings of a sunburn on his ears and the sides of his neck. A few more minutes and he might drop on the spot.   
  
“I, uh…” Kevin swallowed again and steeled himself. He punched in the code and turned the heavy handle, leaning against it. Chris stepped in behind him, letting the door close behind him.  
  
Chris blinked as his eyes tried to adjust to the dark. Kevin, on the other hand, felt light closing in on the side of his field of vision, saw the garage swimming around him. He swayed a little, or maybe not. It was impossible to tell. He closed his eyes tightly.  
  
“Kevin? Is that you?” Came an incredulous voice from somewhere ahead. Kevin opened his eyes at the touch of a hand on his shoulder, reassuring and strong. Howie embraced him. After a second or two, Kevin’s arms remembered to reach out towards his friend. They hugged for a moment then Howie patted his shoulders and stepped back to look at him.  
  
“It’s been a while,” he whispered hoarsely. “You’re looking better.”  
  
Chris did a double-take. This was better?  
  
Kevin nodded slowly. “Has it…?”  
  
“Healed. Yes.” He responded, gesturing to his leg. “As much as I can hope, anyway. Kevin, who is this?”  
  
“He’s, uh…”  
  
“I’m Chris,” he volunteered, stepping forward and offering his hand.   
  
He regarded Chris’s hand with suspicion for a moment but decided to take it. “Howie,” he said, guardedly.   
  
“Kevin’s going to help me with my ship,” Chris explained nervously. “He said you were a friend of his, you might be able to sell me parts.”  
  
“We don’t do a lot of business with off-worlders these days,” Howie said. “Not since…” His voice trailed off and he shot a glance at Kevin. Kevin looked back at him blankly. He felt sick.   
  
“I just want to get out of here,” said Chris. “I don’t understand. Everyone here says they don’t want me around but they won’t help me leave. It doesn’t make any sense. I just don’t get it.”   
  
Running off at the mouth insultingly probably wasn’t going to help his case, but Howie didn’t seem particularly phased.   
  
“You can sit down over there if you like.” Howie indicated a metal table and some bare bones chairs. “I’ll see if there is anything I can do for you, but I’d really like to talk to Kevin in private.”  
  
“Uh, OK. Thank you. I’m sorry.”  
  
“Not at all.” Howie touched Kevin’s shoulder to guide him to the back room, then stopped and reconsidered. “You probably need some water.”  
  
“Um, yes. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, it would… probably keep me from dying, actually.”  
  
Howie cracked a polite smile at that, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He found a water skin and handed it to Chris. “Here you are,” he said, leaving Chris to twiddle his thumbs at the rickety table.  
  
With the door to the back office shut soundly behind them, Kevin seemed to relax a little. When Howie sat, he did too.   
  
“I can’t imagine it’s easy for you to come back here,” Howie said. “Not that I’m not glad to see you. I’m just… are you really all right?”  
  
Kevin couldn’t answer that. He pressed ahead. “Howie, just tell me, what do you think of this guy? Could he be…?”  
  
Howie frowned. “It’s… I mean, of course it worries me. Seeing you bring him in here, I didn’t know what to think. Why are you running around with him anyway?”  
  
“He needs someone to fix his ship. Red phalan, he’s got.” Howie’s eyes widened. “Really. He truly does. And not a single idea how to handle something so nice. Don’t rightly know how someone like him gets ahold of a ship like that. Might be he ain’t up to no good.”  
  
“It’s likely,” mused Howie. “But Kev, there’s no good and then there’s no good. You know that anyone coming here with a ship like that, well, whatever he’s up to, it’s not entirely… above the board.” Kevin smiled inwardly at this turn of phrase. Howie’s father was an off-worlder, who had come here back when that was still all right. Well, while it was still just barely acceptable. His family had planned to move off-world together before the kids came of age, but then his sister took ill and Howie had found himself taking over the repair shop to support her. Howie generally tried to keep the fact of his heritage quiet, knowing it wouldn’t make him popular, but sometimes, around his close friends, he let his guard down and almost sounded like a foreigner. Kevin liked it. “I’m just trying to say, he’s almost definitely in some kinda trouble. I don’t know if it’s just gambling, or if it’s smuggling, or if it’s…” he left the sentence unfinished.  
  
“You know what?” Kevin spoke up. “I don’t hardly know the guy, but I don’t think that’s it. I don’t think, you know, I don’t think he’s exactly smart enough.” Howie laughed. “No, he won’t – he can’t stop talking, Howie. He don’t have a thought in his head the world don’t already know.”  
  
“He’d blow his cover,” Howie offered. Kevin actually smiled a little.  
  
“Right fast he would.”  
  
Howie leaned forward. “Do you know where he’s from?”   
  
“Not exactly I don’t. Somewhere west of the Comoras, from his stories.” The two of them gave that some consideration.  
  
“That man…” said Howie, and Kevin knew he wasn’t talking about Chris, “He wasn’t from anywhere near there.”  
  
“No sir,” replied Kevin, feeling a little light-headed and trying to get a handle on it.   
  
“Out Comoras way, I hear, they don’t let people get so big as he was. Food shortages and all.”  
  
“That so?” Kevin’s mouth was dry.  
  
“So I hear. And I’m sure they don’t talk like Chris does.”  
  
“I ain’t never met anyone talks like Chris does.” Kevin forced a weak smile.  
  
“Kev,” Howie leaned in closer and lowered his voice, “All those boys.” Kevin closed his eyes. “I couldn’t tell with the man, but those boys all had… markings? Did you see?” Kevin nodded. “I’ve been reading, trying to figure out. They’re called ‘tattoos.’ It’s an old Terra custom.”  
  
“Terra… that’s far.”  
  
Howie nodded. “I haven’t really been able to find out what it means,” he explained, “There’s a lot of different explanations. But the markings are permanent. You make them with ink and a needle. Designs under the skin.” He shivered a little. “I think that man was putting them on those boys. I don’t know why he would, but you saw them. The way they looked, the way they were dressed… those boys didn’t come from one planet, or even one system. It’s not a cultural thing. And sure, they might have done it to themselves, but how would they have known how? And do you know what I think?”  
  
Kevin swallowed.  
  
“Kevin, did you see them? They were terrified, every single one of them. And it sure wasn’t us was scaring them. What threat could we have posed to them?” Howie smiled bitterly, remembering. “They were scared of him. They didn’t want to be there. I think he marked them so that they’ll always stand out. If they can’t make a life for themselves, they can’t leave him.”  
  
Kevin said nothing.  
  
“Did you see that boy?” Howie asked. “The boy with the… of course you saw the boy with the phaser.” He looked ashamed to have forgotten himself. “I mean, Kevin, did you see the look in his eyes?”  
  
Every night. That fear. Every time I close my eyes, it’s him or Brian. Staring back at me. But the words wouldn’t come. His eyes filled with tears. He stared down at his feet and nodded.  
  
“I think,” Howie continued gently, “that he was very, very scared. He didn’t want to do what he did. He didn’t want to take Brian. But I think he was being threatened with something even worse.” He sighed. “Kevin, I don’t know what that man was going to do to them, but I… I keep seeing their faces, and I’m starting to think that it might be better that he never had the chance.”  
  
Kevin stood suddenly, head swimming. Howie was at his side, hand on his arm. “I’m sorry, Kevin. I really am. But know that at least it was over quickly.”  
  
He shook Howie off and blocked the idea from his brain. They stood in silence. Howie stared miserably at the floor. There was nothing he could say to make this better, but it was not in his nature to let his friend go uncomforted.   
  
“I wish I could have saved them,” he said softly.   
  
Kevin nodded, fighting back tears. “Howie,” he choked a little, and swallowed the lump in his throat, “I gotta get outta here.”  
  
“I know,” replied Howie quietly. “It’s the best thing you could do. For yourself.”  
  
“Chris says he’ll take me. When I fix his ship.”  
  
“The phalan,” said Howie with a small smile. “Let me know what it’s like to ride in one of those.” He looked a little wistful. “Take care of yourself, Kev. And don’t forget about us.”  
  
Kevin smiled bitterly and stepped forward to hug Howie. “I’ll miss you.”  
  
Howie extracted himself from their embrace, wiped his eyes, and gave Kevin a masculinity-affirming slap on the shoulder. “Let’s see what we can do about those parts, now.”  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Chris twisted the straps of his waterskin between his fingers.  
  
“Hey, so... he sold us the parts, huh.”  
  
Kevin nodded. “Reckon he did.”  
  
“I didn't think it would be so easy. I guess it helped that you two are friends.”  
  
“Reckon so.”  
  
Chris fidgeted a little more. Kevin tried clamping down the small metal hatch and cut his hand in the process. He winced and hissed a sharp intake of breath, instinctively lifting his hand to his mouth.  
  
“Also,” he said, shaking out his hand, “he knows we ain't gonna tell no one.” He stared at Chris pointedly.  
  
Chris blinked. “I gotta say,” he ventured hesitantly, “This is probably the first time someone pegged me as a non-talker. It's gonna take some getting used to.”  
  
Kevin smiled a little. “But you know you can't say anything. He's a good friend and I'm not about to let him get found out selling to off-worlders.”  
  
“But why?” Chris threw his hands up. “I mean, look, I do get it. Don't get me wrong -- off-worlders sneaking on with no paperwork, stealing our jobs, scaring our children, looking all handsome to our women -- yeah, sure, of course I know that's terrible. That's a threat to our whole way of life! That's unraveling the fabric of society! But if you people don't want me here, why does everyone try to stop me from leaving? Isn't that what you want?”  
  
Kevin had been quiet throughout this speech, focusing on tightening down a bolt. He responded quietly, carefully. “We've had some problems. With off-worlders. And people say...” here he collected himself to look Chris in the eye, “we ought not to let ‘em come and go so easily.”  
  
“So take that to the government! Get some laws made! If they print out applications to leave, I will camp out in your stupid desert to be first in line for a copy. Don't --”  
  
“Because,” Kevin interrupted, “we gotta take it upon ourselves. Government don't move fast, and in the meantime, we had some more... accidents, and...”  
  
“Accidents? Do you mean that stuff that's always on the telecaster? The kidnappings?” The look on Kevins face was enough to show him he'd hit the nail on the head. Understanding dawned in Chriss eyes. “Oh, it was... the ship that exploded during take-off. They must have –”  
  
“Everyone saw the flash, thought it was some kinda attack. Panicked. Even before they found out...” Kevin closed his eyes and swallowed.  
  
“Before they found out there were local kids on board,” Chris finished quietly. “It makes...” There was no mistaking that this was an emotionally charged topic. Tread lightly, idiot. “I understand now.” He continued softly. “Of course you'd want to do something.”  
  
“Not much anyone coulda done then,” Kevin hoarsely replied.  
  
“No... nobody could have predicted something like that. Do they know, have they found out yet what happened in the ship? What made it...?” Chris made an understated (he hoped) exploding gesture.  
  
Kevin shook his head. They were silent for a few seconds, neither sure how to continue the discussion.  
  
“Think you could un-cut the power to this section?” Kevin broke the silence. “I wanna give this a trial run.”  
  
“No problem.” Chris rose and made his way to the back of the cabin, disappearing from view. Kevin wiped at his eyes.  
  
“All clear!” Came the shout from just out of sight.  
  
Lock, twist, aaaand ZZZZZT! Kevin heard a shriek of joy, a loud thump, a cry of pain. Thundering footsteps rushed towards him and Chris appeared, rubbing the side of his head.  
  
“Did it work? Was that a good buzz or a—” catching sight of Kevins smile, he whooped again and jumped in the air.  
  
Kevin sat back on his heels, grinning with satisfaction. “It'll take another hour or two, maybe, to put this back together. Secure everything, too. But if you got supplies together already, I reckon we can be off by nightfall.”  
  
“Let me -- you, sir! You are fantastic and let me find you something to celebrate with. For once we're off. I think I have a bottle of –”  
  
Kevin shook off the offer. “Naw, I don't need anything like that.” Registering the surprise on Chris face, he smiled again and cracked his knuckles. “Feels good working with my hands again.”  
  
Chris smiled back. “I'll go check the reserves,” he said. “See what I need to get together. I'm getting out of here! No more sand, no more heat, no more bartenders that -- hey, do you think I should go say goodbye? For old times sake?” He paused. “Or hey, don't you have anyone you wanna say goodbye to?”  
  
In the blink of an eye, that distance was back. “Said goodbye to Howie already.” Said Kevin. “Everyone else...” he shrugged.  
  
Chris didn't know what to make of that.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
He was so hungry.  
On the floor in the fetal position, he clutched his stomach, curling more tightly in on himself.  
  
Anything would be better than dying this way.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
“Think you'll ever go back?”  
  
Kevin grunted non-commitally and took another spoonful.  
  
“If you do, you gotta bring your friend Howie a thank-you card. A basket of fruit or something. My first-born child. Anything to thank him for getting us off of that planet. I mean, I know it's your home and whatever, but talk about a low—”  
  
“Gotta thank Howie for more than that.” Chris raised his head. “He saved my life,” Kevin added bitterly.  
  
“The nerve of some people,” Chris agreed. “Wanting their friends to keep on living. Imposing their values on -- what the hell is wrong with you, he saved your life?”  
  
“Only mine.”  
  
Chris fell silent.  
  
“My cousin, Brian.” Kevin swallowed hard, gesturing to about shoulder level. “Couple years younger. He was there that day too...”  
  
“That day? What was... he didn't...”  
  
“That's why I wanted you to come with me. For the parts. Thought, maybe Howie’ll take a look, see something about you I don't. He's a smart one, he is.”  
  
This might be the longest speech he'd ever heard Kevin make. Chris didn't dare interrupt.  
  
“Runs a business, taking care of his sister. Always been poorly, that girl. And he knows off-world stuff, too. I was thinking, maybe he can see if you're one of them. If you're with him.” He spoke the last word with chilling anger, as if he wanted to bite it off.  
  
“But I don't rightly know... he always saw so clear. How come he can't see what that man is? How come he can't see he's trouble? How come Brian…?” Kevin’s voice cracked. “Brian and all those others...?”  
  
The suffering in Kevin’s eyes was enough. Chris had to change the subject. “I'm not, you know. I’m a lowlife, sure, but I would never get involved with something like that.”  
  
“Howie knew that,” Kevin replied. “Reckon I did, too. You’re about a mouth too big for anything truly bad.”  
  
Chris bristled, pretending to take offense at the remark. “I'll have you know that I'm a lowlife, despicable smuggler,” he intoned.  
  
“Surprises me you can handle that.” Kevin scratched his head. “Or, hey, you tell me if I got this wrong but it seems to be you can't. What's someone like you smuggling anyway?”  
  
“Tea,” said Chris.  
  
“Tea?” Kevin screwed up his face. “You mean tea tea?” He gestured.  
  
“Tea tea,” answered Chris. “There's some government thing. A boycott,I think. Because of the mold farmers. Or moldy farms. I don't know if the molds supposed to be there or not. What do I know about the relative humidity of planets in the Terra system? Politics. Anyway, it's a whole big mold thing.”  
  
Kevin was staring at him like he'd just sneezed out a small animal.  
  
What was with the faces this guy pulled? One second he's almost crying, the next he's grinning like a fool, then I start talking about mold and you give yourself whiplash?  
  
“Where are we going?” Holy eyebrows, he was even breathing hard.  
  
“We're uh, Terra, Kevin. Terra. Those coordinates I asked you to put in? Those were for Terra.”  
  
“Have you ever heard of a tattoo?”  
  
“Tattoo? That… uh,” Chris snapped his fingers, trying to recall. “The uh, revolutionary leader? The one on the swamp planet. With the tiny hand.”  
  
“No, not, it’s – what?” Kevin shook his head, deciding to forget it. “A tattoo, it’s an ink marking from Terra. They make them on their skin.” Chris’s face was blank, not comprehending. “Those boys, all of them had these patterns on their skin. Howie thinks that man was from Terra.”  
Chris scratched his head. “I don’t know what to tell you… That’s where we’re going, though. I have to get rid of this tea. Maybe you can get some answers.”  
  
*************************************************************************************  
  
Kevin was running some routine maintenance checks on the ship’s navigation system when he noticed something on the screen. He squinted at it and frowned. He was becoming more and more accustomed to life on a ship (and to Chris’s antics) but he still didn’t have a lot of experience reading these panels.  
  
“Chris,” he called over his shoulder. “Chris, get in here!”  
  
Chris appeared in the doorway a moment later. “You rang?”  
  
“Come on over here and tell me what that is. We’re comin’ up on it right fast.”  
  
Chris hurried over and stood by his side. He glanced at the screen, tilted his head a bit, and then nodded. “It looks like a wrecked ship.”  
  
Kevin studied it more closely. Now that he mentioned it, it kind of did. “I reckon you're right.”  
  
“Then I need you to make some preparations. Get everything locked down securely and help me prepare to board. We have to see what we can salvage.” Chris wasn't sure how Kevin was going to take this undoubtedly ethically questionable news, but he just nodded expressionlessly.  
  
A few moments later, they gathered in the loading bay.  
  
“Food and supplies. Fuel.” Chris ticked off on his fingers. “Oil. Tools. Parts. Any parts we might need that are expensive or hard to replace or that if they just stopped working would result in our immediate death, well, if you can guess where they're at, just open up the hatch and liberate them.”  
  
Kevin raised his eyebrows. “What if there's somebody in there? You got a weapon I reckon we can hold ‘em while we take food and supplies, but you really gonna keep ‘em still while I take apart their ship?”  
  
“You saw the ship, Kevin. It's scorched to shit. Anybody in there, they've been dead a long time.” Still, Chris felt uneasy. “You have a weapon too?”  
  
Kevin shook his head. Chris walked back to a metal cabinet and punched in a short code on the keypad and pulled. Nothing. He punched a longer code. A high, reedy beeeeep issued from the panel, Chris punched in the long code again and before the beep could sound, gave the left panel a resounding thwack. The panel gave a more cheerful beep this time as the door swung open, revealing an array of dangerous looking weapons that was nothing if not impressive.  
  
Kevin struggled not to show his surprise.  
  
“Any of these look like something you've used before?” Chris asked. “Here we've got your standard phasers, your lasers, your blasters, your daggers, crossbows, axes, good old-fashioned blunt objects... oh, and detonators. Not my personal choice in a deep space environment,” he added, “but to each his own. Just let me know so I can order up a nice spacewalk suit or two. Then we can get started on boarding this ship when it arrives in about six weeks to never.”  
  
Not wanting to betray his inexperience with combat (though Kevin had started to consider himself something of a tough guy after all the bar fights he'd been in these past few months), Kevin examined the display, eventually selecting a blaster not unlike the one his father had used for hunting sand beasts.  
  
“A fine choice,” Chris nodded approvingly. “A true classic. Never goes out of style. Now let's see... we've got guns, so we work on getting food and fuel, oil, useful parts... and anything we could sell.” He looked at Kevin pointedly. “Sometimes,” he spoke delicately, “getting things that we want to sell can be... unpleasant. When you're just taking supplies, you're taking them from a ship and that's one thing. But things like money, jewelry, weapons, clothing... people tend to keep those with them. And we need them.”  
  
“Even if we have to take them off a dead person.”  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
“Anything we can sell?”  
  
“Anything.”  
  
“Even tea?”  
  
Chris smiled. “Especially tea. Ready?”  
  
Kevin patted the butt of his weapon. Chris nodded and opened the blast door.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
“Stop the fuck right there! I’ll fucking kill you! Don’t move!”  
  
Chris’s hands raised his blaster to shoulder level before his eyes, still adjusting to the darkness of the abandoned ship, had time to register the sight. Kevin, heart pounding in his chest, raised his unfamiliar weapon, leveling it at the shadowy figure before them.   
  
A lean, wiry man (boy? It was impossible to judge his age in this dim light) stood with a blaster raised, trembling with energy and rage.   
  
“Don’t fucking move, I said! I’ll kill the both of you fuckers so you stay right there.” A reflective visor of some sort covered his eyes, making it difficult to call his bluff, but Chris thought that the edge of rage and fear in his voice sounded real. Chris snuck a glance at Kevin out of the corner of his eye, only to see the color drain from his face and his blaster clatter to the floor.  
  
The man started at the noise, whirling right to train his blaster on Kevin then, realizing instantly that he was no longer a threat, refocusing his energy on Chris.  
  
“I'll kill you both, don't think—”  
  
“You.” The word burst forth uninvited from Kevin’s throat, coarse and choked. He wet his lips and swallowed. “You!”  
  
“Shut your goddam mouth right now, I’m warning you.”   
  
“You were there!” Kevin exploded. “You died! How are you here?”  
  
“The fuck are you on about? Shut your mouth or you'll be the one that's dead, right after I kill your—”  
  
“Nobody’s killing anybody,” interrupted Chris calmly. “Unless, that is, you want us to turn around, go back to our ship, and leave you here to die alone. It doesn't look like your ship is going anywhere soon, and you can't have enough food in here to last you more than a couple weeks. Kevin, kindly take a step back.” Kevin stood, swaying slightly, his hands at his sides. “Kevin! Back. Right. Good. Maybe another now? All right.”  
  
Still training his blaster on the dark-haired man, Chris took a step back himself. “Now, I don't wanna intrude. A man’s ship is his castle and all that. I am very sorry to have disturbed you and as a token of apology, I’d like to leave you with this parting gift -- the detonator I have in my vest pocket. It's an older model, sorry about that -- you know how hard times are -- but that means if I just nudge it out of my pocket and let it hit the floor, my friend and I should have just enough time to get back to our ship before it blows a huge hole in your ship and maybe in your head too, if you're lucky enough to die quickly.  
  
“Now, if that all sounds like a dream come true, just keep doing what you're doing and I would be all too glad to make it happen. But if you’d rather not suffocate in a vacuum, you can put down your weapon and come with us. We should have enough food and supplies for all of us.”  
  
The man stared at him, incredulous.  
  
“Oh, also, our ship isn't a burnt-out husk so you won't have to just float in space ‘til you starve to death or kill yourself to get it over with. Did I mention that? Just give me your weapon and we'll have a nice talk.”  
  
The man made no move to do so, but he looked left and right frantically.  
  
Kevin took his own blaster from where it lay on the floor, considering it a moment before offering it to Chris.  
  
“What the hell are you doing? I wasn’t talking to you.”  
  
Heedless, Kevin lay the gun at Chris’s feet and took a step towards the man.  
  
“Tell me why you're here,” he said, voice shaking. “Tell me why you're alive.”  
  
“I told you,” the man answered, panic sharpening the edge of his gravely voice. “I told you I have no fucking idea what you mean.”  
  
“You were on Sentosa,” said Kevin. “You came to the shop where I worked. You had a gun and you took my cousin with you and your ship exploded. Why are you here? Why aren’t you dead? What happened to Brian?”  
  
“Brian,” he said. Chris could almost hear the comprehension dawning in the man’s eyes, though they were still hidden from view.  
  
“Brian,” he said. Then, “You! You were there! I saw you!” He lowered his gun and Chris realized that what his eyes had been taking for shadows were actually dark markings up and down his arms. Tattoos, he thought. Terra?  
  
Kevin’s gaze was pleading. “I just... can't you tell me what happened?”  
  
He raised his head, visor reflecting Kevin’s green eyes. “Your cousin’s not dead. At least… I don't think he is. He wasn’t, but by now... ” The man sheathed his blaster and shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess. Just give me something to eat,” he said. “I’ll tell you the rest.”  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
He dug ravenously into the plate of steaming vegetables. Chris had never seen anyone attack rehydrated foodstuffs with such fury, but even amid the man’s desperate chewing and gulping, his eyes kept being drawn to the marks on his arms.  
  
Dark, thick, purposeful lines twisted in intricate detail. Were they really made with needles and ink? Could lines that solid be made one pinprick at a time? That would be a lot of time... and a lot of pain.  
  
As he looked more closely, Chris realized something. It wasn't just one pattern; the lines made up several different, separate designs. Why would someone choose to have that done again?  
  
Or was it not a choice? Was it something that was done to you? Chris felt a little bit nauseous. He put down his fork and peeked to see whether Kevin was as hypnotized by the tattoos as he was.  
  
Kevin seemed totally fixated, that was for sure. Leaning forward, his intense stare was fixed on the man and his white-knuckled hands were closed tightly around his fork and knife.  
  
Chris cleared his throat. The man paused and lifted his gaze, fork hovering in mid-air.  
  
“There's, uh...” Chris’s voice trailed off under the power of the man’s aura, formidable even with his gaze obscured by the reflective visor.  
  
The man looked to Kevin in the hopes of some explanation. Reading the look on Kevin’s face, he quickly understood. “Your cousin,” he said, realizing. “I'm sorry, I was just so hungry – ”  
  
“No problem whatsoever,” Chris chirped cheerily. “I know our Kevin is getting a little anxious, but that's no reason to—”  
  
“You were working in the ship repair bay, weren't you?” The man directed his attention to Kevin. Kevin nodded. “Your cousin said he worked there too.”  
  
“Just started,” Kevin said hoarsely.  
  
“So you worked on Lou’s ship?” In response to Kevin's raised eyebrow, he added, “The big fucking guy.”  
  
“Ah. I did some, I reckon.”  
  
“My ship,” he said, gesturing vaguely. “Well, that's Lou’s too, I guess but I'd say he gave it up when he left me to die in it. Did the inside look familiar to you?”  
  
Kevin considered this. Though he could probably fix any ship with ease, there was a very limited number of models he'd actually gotten to try his hand out while working with Howie, Sentosan inter-world relations policies being what they were. Both inside and out, Lou’s ship had been very similar to the models they handled frequently, but the ship from which they'd rescued this man had a very different interior than anything Kevin had seen before.  
  
“You know, I don't reckon it did,” he remarked. “The inside was all...” he waved a hand all-encompassingly.  
  
“The one you fixed up was a decoy. Lou figured if there was a recent repair record, it wouldn't look so strange if something went wrong and it exploded. And he was never planning on paying for repairs anyway, so...” he shrugged. “It wasn't a waste of money, I guess. Go on in, wave some blasters around, grab some boys and take off. The way we did it on every planet. Had some bots flying another one, looks identical from the outside. Time everything right and people take ‘em for the same fucking ship. Especially backwoods hicks.” He speared another bite with his fork and chewed contentedly. “Timing was off this time, though.”  
  
“Is that what happened to the ship we found you in?” Chris asked.  
  
He nodded. “Got a little too close to the bot ship when we detonated it. Singed it right to shit. I was flying it. Lou was so fucking angry...” he shook his head. “That's how I got this.” He rolled up his sleeve, exposing a shoulder with another inked pattern, this one in the shape of a cross, raw and pink around the edges.  
  
Chris drew in a sharp breath in sympathetic pain. Kevin, fixated, caught himself and barely managed to stop his hand from reaching out to touch.  
  
“So those are... a punishment?” Chris said in a near whisper.  
  
He nodded, looking almost proud. “I had the most.” He said. “Of all of us.”  
  
“All of us?” questioned Kevin. “I saw you and... a curly-haired boy. Some others, too, I reckon, but how many? I can't remember that, I can only see...” he shook his head and raised a hand to his temple.   
  
“The curly-haired kid’s Justin,” he said. “Youngest one. He came from Marasha, same time as JC. Then there's Joey, he was there before me. Lance came right after I did, then we got your cousin and his blonde friend, what was it, Nicky? And me. That makes seven.”  
  
“What do we call you, then?” Kevin broke in.  
  
“AJ,” he answered. “You're Kevin, right? Brian talked a lot about you.”  
  
I am. This is Chris.  
  
AJ nodded. “Pleased to meet you and all that. Like I was saying, I guess... your cousin was alive the last time I saw him. And he seems a good fucking kid, so he'll probably stay that way.” He paused. “Lou has a shitload of patience. At first, that is. I been with him for too long and didn't learn nothing, so I got more of these.”  
  
“Do you reckon Brian --?”  
  
AJ waved the notion away. “Like I said, Lou’s patient at first. You get to ‘defy him’” (AJ made finger quotes) “...hmmm, two, maybe three times before he starts with this shit. Gotta show you how serious his ass is. Then, after the first one, he lets up for a while. I mean, shit, all he’s gotta do is look at you and you remember the needles and you shut right the fuck up.”  
  
Kevin realized he was still staring. He had never seen skin that soft before, so white where the sleeve was rolled up. Sendosans were all burnt brown and tough by the sun, and the only off-worlder he'd ever really known was Chris (and of course Howie’s father, when they were really young), but looking at AJ’s skin was different somehow. He felt himself blush and he struggled to take control of the conversation.  
  
“So you got too close to that blast, scorched up that ship, and Lou done gave you that,” Kevin gestured vaguely towards the tattoo, trying not to stare. “What all happened next?”  
  
“We took off for Terra,” AJ replied. “Buttfuck of nowhere if you ask me, but that's where the bastard comes from. He's got a whole fucking...” searching for the word he waved his hands, “…operation out there, I dunno. ‘The Facility,’ he calls it.”  
  
“Mold farming?” Spoke up Chris. “Or uh, farm mold removal?”  
  
AJ looked at him with disgust. “Mold? The fuck you on about, man? He's building. What do you think he needs with a shitload of mechanics like he's got? It's a big destroyer... thing. Won't tell us what it’s for, what he's gonna use it on. Beats the shit out of you if you ask.” He shrugged. “No question it's some kinda weapon though.”  
  
“So let me get this straight,” Chris said. “He's designed some kinda thing to - I dunno - destroy the universe. Crush the tea rebellion or a poison toothbrush factory, whatever. He's got all the materials and facilities he needs, but he bounces from planet to planet, doing a dine-and-dash at every mechanic he can find just so he can kidnap kids to work for him? Can't he just hire someone to build it for him?”  
  
“Somebody he hires has a choice,” AJ answered. “Let me tell you, the way things are, you won't stick around for just no salary.”  
  
“Then why can't you leave?”  
  
Kevin spoke up. “It's the tattoos, isn't it?”  
  
AJ nodded. “We're fucking marked, Lou says. We can try to run but he has people in the darkest fucking corners of the galaxy. He's connected to the shadiest shit you can imagine, I know it. And people know -- bad people know -- that when you see a kid with this shit,” he gestured up and down his arms, “He's Lou’s. And Lou wants him back, alive or dead.”  
  
Chris pondered this.  
  
“He'd prefer alive, of course, with all the time he spends on training our sorry asses. Plus, he can kick the shit out of you until you tell him that you love him and you never would have left, someone just stole you away so he has to forgive you. I've seen that, too. It's not pretty.”  
  
Chris didn’t want to dwell on that “So how exactly is it that you're here on your own?”  
  
“You can't get out, but sometimes, if you're lucky enough, you can sure as fuck get kicked out. Or left to die. Whichever you like better.”  
  
“But what happened?”  
  
AJ shrugged. “Caused enough trouble that I wasn't worth it anymore. There was no one reason... the ship was the last big thing, though. ‘You almost killed us in it, you can die in it,’ he told me. But the fucker would’ve let Justin get away with something like that, I know it. But hey... who's laughing now?” He smiled and stretched, rubbing his full belly. “I'm thirsty. Got anything to drink?”  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Kevin stood quietly in the darkened doorway, watching Chris frown at the navigation panel. He cleared this throat.  
  
Chris turned and smiled. “Hey. I was just taking a look at where we are,” he said, “and I was thinking about that thing AJ says Lou is building. I haven't asked him for the coordinates, but from what he did say, I kinda think its somewhere around here.” Kevin leaned forward to have a look. “It's in the Terra system too, you know,” Chris continued. “I think that we could maybe take a little detour from our tea party, see if we can't find your cousin.”  
  
Kevin nodded. The lines of worry etched into his face broke, giving way somewhat into relief. “That's what I gotta do, Chris,” he said. “Ain't no other option for me.”  
  
“I understand that. But Kev,” Chris looked down at the panel and back up. “I'm just a smuggler. And I’m not even a good one. And then this ship, I mean, it's quick and small and it can maneuver, but it can't do much fighting. Really, if anything bigger turns its guns on us, all we can do is run. If they really are building some kinda giant weapon like he says, our guns are just gonna tickle it. The best we can hope for is to be an itch. This could be really dangerous.”  
  
Nodding, Kevin replied, “I reckon I can understand that. Can't hardly ask you to get involved in something like this. Weren't gonna ask AJ either -- he won't wanna go back. Just take me ‘s far as you can and I'll go it alone. I have to.”  
  
“No, that's not what I mean, Chris protested. I'm behind you on this, all the way. I’m stepping on your heels, even. Whatever this guys doing he needs to be stopped. I'm just not sure how much I can do...”  
  
“Just come with me, then,” said Kevin. “Do what you can. That’ll be enough.”  
  
Chris smiled a little. “It'll mean dragging this tea around for a while longer, but I should be able to cope. After all, even a smuggler’s gotta do the right thing once in a while.”  
  
“I reckon so,” said Kevin. “I'm gonna go ahead and talk with AJ, then. See what he can tell me ‘fore he turns in for the night.”  
  
“Hold on a second.” Chris stood and took down a white box from where it hung on the cabin wall. He opened it and pored over a selection of first aid items before selecting a white tube of ointment.  
  
“Take this to him, will you? His, uh,” Chris rubbed his own shoulder in the same place, “It looked a little rough. This’ll help it heal faster.” He tossed the tube to Kevin, who caught it deftly and flipped it to his other hand.  
  
“Will do. G’night, Chris.”  
  
“Sleep tight, Kev.”  
  
Chris turned back to the navigation panel and smiled to himself.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
AJ had chosen the sick bay to sort through the items they had salvaged before going to sleep as his weary body demanded. There hadn't been any food left on the ship for a while, but there was water and fuel (for all the good it did him after the number Lou had Joey do on the engine to ensure that AJ couldn't get it working again) as well as plenty of stuff to sell, he guessed. He couldn't imagine who would buy half of this shit but they'd carried it out by the armload and here it was.  
  
AJ frowned, taking off his visor to rub at his tired eyes. Poor Joey. He hadn't wanted to do it but with the marks of Lou’s anger fresh on his skin, he'd had little choice. AJ understood that. Joey had cried the whole time while in the background Lou berated him and called him a sissy, a pansy, a pussy. AJ tended to agree that real men didn't cry, but it meant something to him to see Joey do it then, to know Joey cared about him.  
  
Or at the very least, that it would upset Joey to have a hand in his death. Even in the relatively short time AJ had been alive, he had encountered no small number of people who, to put it nicely, hadn’t exactly shared that sentiment.  
  
Lifting up a mangled piece of pipe, AJ scowled a little. What did they need this shit for? They couldn't use it, sure as shit no one was gonna buy it, and here it was just to remind him of the hellish ordeal he'd survived. He threw it down, cursing as it hit the ground and bounced up to bark his shin. He hissed in pain and bent forward to rub the sting away.  
  
“You all right?” AJ looked up to see Kevin s lanky figure in the doorway.  
  
“Fine, fine,” he answered, “Just this fucking...” he indicated the mess before him “...shit.” He shrugged.  
  
“I came t’ask you a few questions, if you don't mind.”  
  
AJ leaned back against the sickbay table. “Shoot,” he said.  
  
Their eyes met for the first time. Kevin blinked in surprise. Yes, those were the same intensely dark, tortured pupils that had haunted his dreams all these weeks. They stirred something deep inside him… but now he had a mission. He could think about that later.   
  
Speaking carefully, Kevin said, “I have to find my cousin. I have to save him, if I can. There ain't no other choice for me. And I know I can't rightly ask you to come with me -- and if I was you, I don't hardly think I would go back there any way. But there ain't no way I can do it without your advice.”  
  
AJ nodded. “You need to know what I know.”  
  
“Anything you can tell me. Where is he, do you think?”  
  
AJ frowned as he considered this, rubbing his temple. “Since they left me, I'd say... let's see... they've gotten back to the Facility, for sure. And that was probably -- what how many weeks after we took Brian and Nicky?” He fell silent for a moment and pulled a stool out from under the table to sit.   
  
Kevin calculated in his head. Granted, he had lost track of time for a while in his grief, but AJ couldn’t really have been trapped there for that long, could he? No wonder he was so pale and thin. And not to mention jumpy, unaccustomed to human contact. Kevin had felt like that himself until recently, when starting to work with his hands again and of course forming a friendship with Chris had begun to melt that edgy, icy numbness away. Some part of him wanted to reach out to AJ in that same way. He crossed the room to sit down at the table across from AJ.   
  
“Thing is,” AJ added, “It's hard to say where they would be now. They might have left to get more boys.” He jerked his head up. “Boys,” he said. “That's a fucking weird one, isn't it. Why was he always calling us that? I mean, shit, Justin and Nicky are young, yeah, but...” He shrugged in an attempt to hide a shiver of disgust, but it didn’t seem that Kevin had fallen for it.  
  
Kevin was silent. He didn’t like the implication there, not for Brian nor for AJ.  
  
“Either way,” said AJ, “I think the best thing for you to do would be to head for the Facility. Even if they’ve left, there’s no way to find out where the hell they would’ve gone, and they gotta come back anyway. Eventually. Wait around for them, figure out your next move.”  
  
Kevin nodded. “I reckon that sounds smart. Now, what about the Facility? What is it like?”  
  
“I don’t know how you could get in…” AJ rubbed at his temple. “There’s a lot of fucking security. I know the codes, but he changes them sometimes. There is a sensor, though, that…” He shook his head. “Can I have some time to think about it?”  
  
“Of course,” replied Kevin. He leaned forward to look AJ in the eyes. “Can I ask you a different kind of question?”  
  
AJ nodded.   
  
“What do you reckon you’re gonna do next?” AJ was silent, still. He cast his gaze down, breaking eye contact. “Are you gonna go home, try and find your family?”  
  
“I… I dunno,” AJ swallowed. “Things weren’t real… stable, you know? I don’t know where they’d be. And they probably – it’s been a long time, you know? Only Joey’d been there longer than me. I was just a kid. It was years. And they never came looking for me.”  
  
Kevin reached out and, at the last second, simply laid his hand beside AJ’s on the table, not knowing if his touch would be welcome. “They thought you were dead, AJ. They didn’t know there was anyone to go looking for. I reckon they’d be overjoyed to see you again.”  
  
AJ’s voice was quiet, hoarse. “Things weren’t so good, Kevin. It just was… at least at fucking Lou’s, I had all the guys, you know? Maybe we weren’t family or really even friends, but we relied on each other. And at home, I don’t know, things were hard enough before I came along, I guess, and having to take care of my ass just made everything worse. There’s fuck-all for me to go back to.”  
  
Speechless, Kevin covered AJ’s hand with his and squeezed. AJ made no response; they sat in silence for a moment. Kevin tried to ignore the electric tingles running from the tips of his fingers up his arm. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t just the ordeal AJ had been through on the ship; it seemed he had been kicked around all his life. If he needed anything, it was a shoulder to cry on, not –   
  
AJ cleared his throat. “I think it’s great. That you’re going to save Brian, I mean. I sure as shit don’t know anyone who would do that for me.”  
  
“I would.” AJ looked up, startled, suspicious.   
  
Their gazes met and Kevin repressed a shiver.   
  
“Maybe I ain’t had it as rough as you did, but there ain’t a whole lot gone right for me. There ain’t many people who care about me. I’m mostly on my own, and I feel like…” he swallowed, “I feel like we oughta protect each other.” Working from instinct, he began to massage AJ’s hand in both of his, in a gentle, comforting manner. AJ still looked wary, but he didn’t pull away. “I’m glad we found you. I’m glad we got you out of that ship. I wanna make sure that you end up somewhere happy and safe.”  
  
They sat in the thick silence, Kevin still rubbing at AJ’s palm with his thumbs. AJ seemed overwhelmed, exhausted, unable to react. He studied Kevin’s green eyes and after a moment, realized he has stopped breathing. He took in a deep breath and let it out, feeling the hitch in his throat. He had to say something.  
  
“Thank you,” he whispered. The corners of Kevin’s mouth twitched upward in a gentle smile, but he made no verbal response. He just switched AJ’s right hand for his left, warming it in his own two hands and kneading the palm with his thumbs. Neither of them made any move to break away.   
  
“That feels good,” AJ said, somewhat hoarsely. “Where’d you learn to do that?”  
  
“You said you worked around ships, didn’t you?” AJ nodded. “I’m right surprised you dunno how to do it yourself. Mechanic’s hands get banged up real bad.” The tip of Kevin’s finger traced a light circle on AJ’s palm; AJ shivered and caught his breath. “It helps.”  
  
AJ’s mouth was dry. He struggled to keep his composure. “I think I saw Brian doing this to Nicky,” he said. “You teach him this too?”  
  
Kevin nodded and AJ cursed himself. If the man massaged his own cousin like this, he couldn’t be sending off the signals AJ was picking up.  
  
“I reckon I mighta done it to Brian a little bit different, though,” Kevin kept on rubbing, unwilling to break this human connection. Starting from the base of AJ’s little finger, he rolled each joint between his own thumb and fingers, moving slowly upward, staring into AJ’s eyes. When he reached the top joint, he jumped to the ring finger and began to work his way down. AJ’s eyelids fluttered involuntarily. Kevin couldn’t stop staring at the contrast between his dark eyes, heavy lashes, and that pale skin.  
  
Before he knew it, he had reached the pointer finger, then the thumb. It was too much of a natural stopping point and, caught up in the moment, Kevin hadn’t thought of anything he could do to prolong it. Reluctantly, he relaxed his grip on AJ’s hand. AJ pulled it back and sighed.   
God, Kevin was aching, but what he could do? Here was AJ, who he’d only known for a few hours, who had just been through a traumatic ordeal, who was actually a few years younger than Brian. This wasn’t the time or place to project his own lonely wants and desires, no matter what kind of connection he thought he felt.   
  
He cleared his throat and stood. “Well, I – you must be tired, I reckon. It’s truly been a day.”  
  
“It has,” AJ agreed, sounding dazed. Kevin couldn’t read the expression in his dark eyes, aside from the fact that they seemed kind of hazy. AJ ran his fingers through his hair and Kevin caught sight of the markings on his arms.  
  
“Oh! I right forgot.” Kevin fished the tube of ointment out of his pocket. “Chris said this oughta help you heal a mite faster. One of those things looks pretty nasty.” He offered it to AJ.  
  
“Thank you,” said AJ, standing and reaching out his hand to take it. He examined the tube briefly and then, dark eyes looking up at Kevin through thick lashes, seemed to be gathering his courage. “Do you think you could help me with it?”  
  
Kevin’s heart skipped a beat. Wondering if he could possibly have heard right, he nodded. His mouth was suddenly very dry. He licked his lips. “Get up on that there table then, and have a seat.”  
  
AJ complied, letting his slim legs dangle over the edge of the table. Kevin moved close to stand facing him, realizing that the added height brought AJ up to eye level. Lord, those eyes. He unscrewed the cap and held the tube in his hands, desperately trying to figure out how he should proceed.  
  
“How should we do this, then?” AJ sounded amused, almost like he was aware of the effect he was having on Kevin.   
  
Squeezing some of the gel into his hands, Kevin prayed his voice would come out normally. “Like anyone would, I figure. The only way as makes sense.” He stepped forward into AJ’s personal space, heart pounding in his ears. AJ’s shins were nearly flush against his thighs. He tried to focus his attention just on AJ’s arms.   
  
The white expanse of skin fringed with intricate black markings had been beckoning him all day, but how could he bring himself to actually touch it? Kevin memorized the details of the designs with his eyes, slowly reaching out. His right hand cupped AJ’s shoulder from behind, gently pulling it closer. The tattoo looked even more raw and painful up close. Trying to keep his touch feather-light, Kevin began to softly brush his slick fingers against the hot skin. AJ winced.  
  
“Is that all right?” whispered Kevin, surprised his voice worked at all.  
  
AJ nodded. “Stings a bit, but that’s for the best.”  
  
“It’s… this stuff, you’re supposed to rub it in good.” Kevin swallowed. “Helps with scars. Let me know if I’m doing it to hard.”  
  
AJ smiled “I trust you,” he said.  
  
Kevin began to work the cool cream gently into the sensitive skin around the edges of the tattoo, gradually working towards the center. AJ gave a sharp intake of breath and closed his eyes, dropping his head forward toward Kevin.  
  
Alarmed, Kevin asked, “Should I stop?”  
  
AJ shook his head. “I’m just being a baby,” he replied. “If you’re gonna do it, do it right.”  
  
Kevin returned to the task at hand. With AJ’s eyes closed, it was even harder not to stare. He gave himself permission to drink in the sight of AJ trustfully surrendering to him as he gently massaged the cream into the tattoo. It must have been painful; AJ let his forehead fall forward to rest against Kevin’s chest. Kevin could feel the rush of his breath, tickling his skin through his thin shirt.   
  
Looking down at the tattoo, now gleaming slick with the medicine, he didn’t want to stop, so he kept going. “It couldn’t hurt to get the rest of them,” he murmured. He felt AJ give a little nod, so he worked his fingers in a slow massage down AJ’s shoulder, past his elbow, pausing to re-wet his fingers for the tattoos adorning his forearm. He was sure that AJ could feel the heat rolling off him. He almost thought that AJ was radiating a crackling electricity in return, but he couldn’t be sure, didn’t know what to do.  
  
Switching his attentions to the other half of AJ’s body, Kevin started with the tattoos on the back of his forearm, slowly and gently rotating his arm to pay close attention to those on the inside of his wrist. Feeling Kevin’s touch on that sensitive skin, AJ unwittingly let out a small moan.   
Kevin realized he was treading a different ice now. These tattoos were healed. They were part of AJ. This arm had no fresh wound, no pain, nothing to coddle. Now, he was just touching AJ’s skin because he wanted to… and because AJ wanted him to, he could feel it. He worked his massage slowly up the inside of AJ’s wrist, then gently up the smooth inside of his bicep, feeling a hot, slow throb in response to the hot, smooth skin beneath his hands.   
  
When he reached AJ’s shoulder, he cupped it in his hands, standing inches from AJ with one hand on each of his shoulders. AJ finally turned his face upward and Kevin barely had time to register the pink in his cheeks and the lust in his eyes as AJ’s hands grabbed him and pulled him forward. A shock ran through Kevin as their mouths met and despite himself, he grabbed at AJ hungrily, deepening their kiss. AJ’s mouth was hot and though his lips were soft, his kiss was bruising. Kevin couldn’t have torn himself away if he’d wanted to.   
  
AJ ran his hands down Kevin’s back, learning the feel of the strong muscle beneath his thin shirt. He wanted to feel Kevin’s body against his own – why shouldn’t he? AJ grabbed at Kevin and pulled, allowing himself to fall back on the med table with Kevin squirming on top of him. Now this, this was almost too much. The heat, the press of Kevin’s body so close trapping him, every inch of him seemed to be held down by Kevin’s hot, solid weight. AJ wriggled beneath him, feeling Kevin moan into his mouth as their hips ground together.   
  
The two of them melted into each other, the sick bay around them forgotten. Outside, planets and stars were hurtling by through the black night.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
AJs finger slowly traced the line of Kevin’s jawbone. Kevin shifted in his sleep, squirming closer.  
  
AJ sighed and rested his head against Kevin’s chest. He felt safe and comfortable, but his mind was racing. He wasn't concerned about their night together -- everything felt right and natural there -- but he couldn't stop thinking about Kevin’s plans to infiltrate the Facility.  
  
He drew a line down the ridge of Kevin’s cheekbone with the back of his finger. “Kevin,” he whispered.  
  
Kevin mrmed and adjusted his position again, pulling AJ closer.  
  
“Kevin,” said AJ. “Kevin. Kevin, wake up.”  
  
Kevin groaned and stretched, pupils contracting into green as his eyes adjusted to the light of his bunk.  
  
“I'm going with you,” AJ said. Kevin blinked and regarded him silently. “It's not because of all this -- not just because of all this, I mean. Of course, there is -- that's not what I want to say. But the way you care about Brian... it's like, I relied on the other boys --- the other guys, I mean, and they relied on me. They gave a shit about me. They would’ve stopped Lou from leaving me there like he did, they just couldn't. And then you found me,” he looked down at Kevin’s collarbone and nervously began to trace its outline repeatedly, “…out there, where I thought I was gonna die. So I guess, it's... I want them to be OK. I have to go back. I owe it to them to try and help.”  
  
Kevin took this all in quietly. When AJ finished, he pulled him forward and kissed him deeply. Pulling away for breath, he smacked another kiss on AJ s lips and pulled him close to his own chest, falling back to sleep almost instantly.  
  
Nuzzled against Kevin’s chest, AJ smiled to himself and closed his eyes, surrendering to sleep.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
“I'm in,” AJ said to Chris the next morning.  
Chris, bleary-eyed and rubbing at his temples, nodded. “Good. Let's figure this out, then. First, you gotta get the exact coordinates in here -- you can fly this, right?”  
  
“Fuck you,” AJ said good-naturedly. “I can fly anything.”  
  
Chris smiled. “Just checking.”  
  
AJ took over at the navigation panel, deftly manipulating the controls.  
  
“So this Facility,” started Chris, “What's it like? How are we getting in?”  
  
Not breaking his concentration, AJ responded, “It looks just like a repair bay.”  
  
“Easy enough, then,” Chris interrupted. “We pull a big ole reverse of what they did on Kevin and Howie. Bring this hunk of junk in for repairs and herd your friends into it just like old Noah did and get on up outta there.”  
  
“Not so easy,” replied AJ shaking his head. “He can't really let anyone see that he's not exactly doing repairs in there, so it's not really open as a repair bay. He has a luxury ship all in pieces so that if anyone comes poking around, asking to get shit done, I mean, he can just say that all his resources are in use on a huge fucking rush job for some big-shot client.” Chris noted a definite shift in AJ’s attention as Kevin appeared in the doorway, yawning and stretching sleepily. “And when he talks about that big client, fuck, people know the kinda connections he's got. That's usually enough to send ‘em running.”  
  
Chris nodded. “Huh,” he said. “So what can we do? Set up camp in the town nearby, pick up information and wait for an in?”  
  
AJ frowned. “They'd recognize me pretty quick,” he responded. Kevin walked up behind him and began massaging his shoulders. Inwardly, Chris raised an eyebrow, but his face showed nothing. “Plus, people ain't so quick to tell you shit about Lou. Unless they gotta reason to wanna end up dead.”  
  
“Not a lot of options, then,” Chris noted. They stood in silence for a while.  
  
“AJ,” Kevin inquired in his slow Sendosan accent, “Weren’t you sayin that you seen people come back to Lou?”  
  
AJ nodded guardedly. Kevin met his eyes, letting his clear gaze do the talking. AJ looked uncomfortable as he turned the idea over in his head.  
  
“There's no other way, is there,” he muttered.  
  
“Don't reckon so,” Kevin answered softly. “Can you do it?”  
  
Gathering his courage, AJ nodded. “Just promise me you'll get me the fuck out of there.”  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Reaching the final security door, AJ mentally crossed his fingers before inputting the familiar code. A resounding beep let him know he had succeeded. No sirens or unpleasant electrical shocks. It may have felt like forever that he was floating around in that wreck, but apparently it wasn't long enough for Lou to change the codes.  
  
Nauseated, he took a deep breath and tugged on the gate, feeling its familiar slide up along the track. He stepped into the dim repair bay. His visor made it darker but at least his eyes adjusted to the change in light more quickly.  
  
Something metal clattered to the floor and, startled, AJ whirled to face the noise.  
  
“AJ!” Justin shouted joyfully, abandoning his wrench where it lay on the floor to pounce on AJ and hug him. “You're back! You're back!”  
  
AJ returned the embrace with joy, pressing his face into Justin’s curls, but only let himself hang on for a fraction of the time he would have liked before pulling away, registering the hurt in Justin’s eyes. There was no time to waste.  
  
“Lou!” He yelled hoarsely at the top of his voice. “Lou, where are you? I need to talk to you.” Shit, could he really do this? No, no, how the fuck could he have thought he could?  
  
Lou’s intimidating figure appeared slowly from the shadows. AJ’s stomach dropped at the mere sight of him, even before processing the blaster in his hands or the closely controlled rage that defined his every movement.  
  
This was it. “Lou,” AJ said, voice cracking with real fear. “Lou.” He fell to his knees. “I'm so fucking sorry, Lou, please forgive me.”  
  
“How are you still alive?” There was a dangerous whipcrack edge to his voice. AJ knew he had to sell it. He was already trembling. Trying to block out the memory of Kevin lying beside him, stroking his hair and quizzing him on the details, he launched into the story that Kevin had helped him prepare.  
  
“They found me there, Lou,” he whimpered, “And they dragged me out. I just wanted to die but it was the police troopers and they took me on their ship and fed me and wanted to know who I was and I fucking,” he sniffled and choked back real tears, “I couldn't fucking tell them anything without hurting you, Lou… So they threw me in fucking jail. Said I'd have time to remember there... but I broke out, Lou. I broke out because you taught me so well, and I had to get back to you.” Throwing himself forward onto his forearms, he prostrated himself before Lou. “Please forgive me. You have to take me back, please.”  
  
Lou stared down at him suspiciously.  
  
“You came back.”  
  
“Yes,” AJ s voice broke. “I, I thought I wanted to get away but I was wrong. I need to be here. This is where I belong. I belong to you. Please let me come back...” He didn't dare look up, not to see the look on Lou’s face, nor even the looks of shock he was sure were on every face surrounding them. This had to work. “Please, Lou,” he whispered, screwing his eyes shut. “Please.”  
  
There was silence for a moment. AJ listened to his heart pounding in his ears, praying that this worked, that he hadn't sold out Kevin and Chris, that he wasn’t about to be killed or worse.   
  
“Get him out of here,” Lou ordered, sounding bored. AJ s heart crashed through the floor. He was going to vomit. It was all over. “And get him cleaned up. He's a fucking mess -- see what happens when you think you can make it without me? All of you are lucky you already know it, but he almost killed himself trying to figure out that I own him.” His voice, which had taken on something of a prideful tone, quickly returned to typical disdainful Lou. “Anyway, he's filthy. I don't want him to be dirty for the marking; don't need another sissy infection like Lances. I said get him UP!”  
  
AJ, still not daring to raise his eyes or believe his luck, heard footsteps rushing toward him. Strong hands lifted him from beneath either arm -- so strong and sure, even though he had gained back some of his strength in his few days with Chris and Kevin, he felt like a waif, a helpless shadow, especially after this exhausting performance. He looked to his left and saw Justin’s concerned face; on his right was Joey, dark eyes pleading for forgiveness. AJ let his head fall forward and tried his best to make his shaking legs move him to the bunk room.  
  
As soon as they were out of ear-shot, Justin whispered urgently, “AJ, are you OK?”  
  
“I'm fine,” he answered. “Fine. And you guys are gonna be, too.”  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Struggling to sleep in his bunk that night, Kevin tried to forget the worries that gnawed at his stomach. Would they be able to pull it off? Had they thought of everything that could go wrong? Had AJ managed to convince Lou? Or, Kevin tried to push away the thought, had he even made it past the traps in the security system? He groaned.  
  
A hand smacked the bedpost from the bunk above him. “Shut up,” Chris said. “AJ’s fine and you know it. And it’s not like lying up worrying all night is gonna solve anything. Just like my mother always said, ‘You can’t build a sand gutter by worrying if it’ll be too hot to build it.” Or at least that’s what she would’ve said if she came from the backwards-ass place you did where they apparently don’t even teach you not to keep people up all night when they have something important to do in the morning.  
  
Despite himself, Kevin smiled a little. “You shut up.”  
  
“Well, I never.” Chris’s tone was mock offended. “If anyone could use a good sand gutter, whatever that is, it would be –”  
  
“Goodnight, Chris.”  
  
“’Night, Kev.”  
  
It was nice to have Chris nearby for comfort. It wasn’t the same as it would have been to lie there with AJ, but somehow, knowing that his friend was just a few feet away made it easier to believe that things were going to be all right.   
  
Kevin decided to hold onto that thought. Rolling over, he called up his memories of the previous night; the last night he and AJ had spent together before putting their plan in action. As he drifted off to sleep, he lost himself in that night again – AJ’s kiss, his body warm and pliant against his own, his arms encircling AJ’s ribs protectively, tracing his tattoos, and those dark, soulful eyes looking back into his with contentment, trust, and desire.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Shortly after dawn, the harsh lights clicked on with a steely buzz. AJ groaned and covered his eyes. That was one advantage the cold, dark, empty death ship did have. This was terrible.  
  
He rolled over on his hard pallet and peeked into the bunk across the row from his. Brian was already awake. Actually, already might have been a bad choice of words – he looked like he hadn’t slept a wink. His blue eyes seemed enormous and his face was contorted with fear and guilt.  
  
“Brian,” AJ whispered. “Are you all right?”  
  
Brian shook his head. “I can’t let Nick do it, AJ. He’s too young. He’s too innocent. If something goes wrong…” Brian turned his eyes up towards the ceiling. “It’ll haunt him forever. I have to do it.”  
  
AJ took this in. “Brian… you know – no, no. You’re right.” Nick might not be much younger than he was, but that didn’t mean he was capable of the same things AJ was. He shouldn’t have to be. “That’s what you should do. But is it gonna be all right?”  
  
Brian answered quickly. “I think so. It ain’t usually me makin Lou’s tea, so if something tastes funny…” his voice trailed off.   
  
A baritone voice chimed in from above. “Whoever’s gonna do it, y’all better get it done soon. Lou’s been putting off the marking so’s he can watch AJ squirm, but he ain’t gonna wait all day. He’s gonna do it.” Lance’s feet hit the ladder and he began to climb down, wincing as his bare feet touched the cold metal.   
  
Brian nodded and rose, crossing the room to Nick’s bunk. Nick had pulled the pillow over his head and was trying to block out the sounds of the day. He pressed his hand against Nick’s shoulder and shook gently.  
  
“Nicky, wake up.” He groaned and buried his face in the pallet. “Nicky, you just gotta gimme… that thing. I’m gonna tell Lou that you’re sick and contagious and so you can’t rightly bring him his breakfast. Just give it to me, OK?”  
  
With his eyes still closed, Nick worked his fingers down into the crack between his pallet and the bed frame. He removed something small that glinted in the light and held it out. Brian took it from his hand and bent to kiss his cheek.  
  
“Just make sure you’re up in time for the supply run. Just in case,” Brian whispered. “Don’t go bein’ late again; once more and you’ll end up with another…” his voice trailed off as his eyes caught the bit of exposed skin on the inside of Nick’s wrist and the bold design that now marked it.   
Brian steeled himself. If everything went according to plan, he’d never have to worry about another marking, another – well, another anything, ever again.  
  
“Just be careful,” he whispered and planted another kiss on Nick’s hair.  
  
Brian stood and walked from the bunk room, steel in his joints and rocks in his belly. Conscious of the stinging pain still present in his own shoulder, he twirled the small vial between his fingers and tucked it into his pocket as he opened the door.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Chris rose to find Kevin’s bunk already empty. It made sense that he wouldn’t be able to sleep; Chris had barely gotten any rest himself. He stretched and yawned and made his way to the hull of the ship.  
  
The night before, he had wished that they would have been able to stop in some kind of settlement and pick up some supplies, seeing how adding an unexpected third person to their crew had done away with their rations more quickly than he would have imagined. This morning, however, he didn’t think he could have eaten anything anyway. It was probably all he could do to force down a couple sips of water to make sure his voice worked. He had a long morning of haggling ahead of him.  
  
He wasn’t sure why Kevin thought that two smugglers in the morning marketplace trying to get rid of tea would attract less attention than the same two smugglers buying food in the evening market, but it probably was for the best that they avoid exposure as much as possible.   
  
Chris saw Kevin standing by the navigation panel, staring out at the swampy expanse of the planet where they had landed the night before. He didn’t look like he needed breakfast either. Kevin turned at the sound of Chris’s footsteps.  
“Good morning,” he said. He didn’t look like he’d slept a wink.  
“Morning,” Chris replied. For once, there didn’t seem to be much to say.  
  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Brian’s hands shook as he unscrewed the vial’s lid and emptied its contents into the teapot, making sure not to leave a single drop. He could feel the color in his cheeks and hear his pulse pounding. When the vial seemed completely empty, he tucked it into his pocket, still looking left and right. He was still alone. Finally letting his breath out, Brian turned towards the countertop busied himself with a stack of flatbreads and a jar of preserves.   
  
“Where’s Nicky today?” Lou grunted from the doorway.  
  
Brian jumped at his voice but managed not to drop the breads. He tried to keep the tremor from his voice as he began to spoon the preserves out onto the plate.   
  
“He’s feelin’ poorly. We all thought he might be contagious, reckoned it was better he didn’t bring you breakfast, Lou.”  
  
Lou nodded, now absorbed with the task of negotiating his substantial bulk into a chair.   
  
“You know what you’re doing there, then? Try not to mess it up too bad. A bad breakfast for me means a bad day for you.”  
  
Brian nodded. “Yes.”  
“Yes what?” There was that dangerous edge.   
  
Brian responded quickly. “Yes, Lou.” His hands moved deftly, arranging a plate of fruit, a plate of preserved meats and cheeses. He laid them on the tray on either side of the flatbread and took the teapot from its place on the countertop. He tried to balance these items in his shaking hands and make his way to Lou’s breakfast table.   
He could see the teacup wobbling back and forth ever so slightly and knew it was going to start clattering. His nerves were going to give him away. Brian steeled himself and thought of his friends, of Nick, of going home to Kevin and the rest of his family. He had to do this. Crossing the room in a few brief steps, he set the tray down on the table a little too abruptly, but not enough to draw suspicion.   
  
Lou regarded the tray with distaste. “You forgot the butter.”  
  
“Yes, Lou. I’m sorry, Lou.” Brian turned on his heels and returned to the cupboard, searching it out. The image of the breakfast tray was fixed in his mind. What if it hadn’t been enough? Or what if it wasn’t concentrated enough? What if Lou didn’t drink the whole pot today? Should he have just put it in the one cup Lou would be sure to drink? No, Lou got so angry when the tea was cold; he would have dumped that cup out and everything would be over. Plus, he would have been so much more likely to taste it in just one cup… but what if – the butter! Brian grabbed it off the shelf and hurried over to the table.  
  
Usually, he knew, Lou started on the bread, but without the butter, he had made do with a boiled egg and some of the cheese. He accepted the butter from Brian wordlessly, slathered it on a hunk of flatbread, topped it with preserves, and bit into it. He began chewing vigorously and then reached for the teapot. He poured himself a cup and lifted it to his lips to wash down the bread. He paused with it inches to his mouth, catching Brian’s eye suspiciously. Brian felt his throat close up.  
  
“What’re you still doing here?” Lou snapped, raising his voice. “Didn’t Nicky tell you not to stand around staring at a man who’s trying to enjoy his breakfast?”   
  
“I’m sorry, Lou.” Brian swallowed hard. “May I be excused, Lou?”  
  
Lou nodded. Brian fought against his feet, which wanted nothing more to carry him out of there as fast as he could go. But he couldn’t afford to throw everything away by looking guilty now. Each controlled step was a battle until he finally heard the door close behind him. Wiping the cold sweat from the back of his neck, Brian bolted for the bunk room.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Chris was arguing loudly with a spindly, lanky man whose origin was difficult to pin down. Kevin was all but wringing his hands, trying to keep himself from pacing and muttering to himself.   
  
“Hold on for a minute, will ya? Just hang in there. I gotta talk with my associate.” Chris took leave of his customer to confer with Kevin under the ramp to the ship’s entrance.  
  
“Jeez, Kevin, will you get a grip?” He lowered his voice. “If this is gonna stand any chance of working, this deal has to go through. Plus, I can’t keep dragging all this tea anymore.” There was fire in his dark eyes. “Kevin, if we are gonna by the fuel we need to make a fast exit off this shithole, we have got to sell this tea for a lot of money. And that is not gonna happen if you keep on skulking around back here like some hyperactive little goblin.”  
  
Kevin looked down at him silently.  
  
“Giant goblin,” Chris corrected himself. “Some hyperactive and unnatural giant goblin. If you cannot stop acting like a crazy weirdo, get inside the ship where nobody can see you and decide not to give me their money.”  
  
Kevin didn’t dignify that with a response, but he did decide to take his worrying inside the ship. As he made his way up the ramp, he heard Chris return to his negotiations.  
  
“My associate’s done with this!” Chris said. “That’s how ridiculous your price is. Look at that! He’s just walking away!”  
  
As the doors whooshed closed behind him, Kevin was unable to make out the exact wording of their customer’s response but it seemed a bit rude.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
The seven of them were gathered in the main operations room of the facility, squirming uncomfortably and trying not to act on their nervous fear. Hygienic, white light gleamed off the metal rafters of the high ceilings and of the sharp angles of the weapon they had been working on.  
  
Nick’s voice broke the silence. “You said it would take a long time, but Brian brought Lou his breakfast like, days ago. Why isn’t it working?”  
  
“Maybe it is working,” Justin responded. “Why else do you think he hasn’t come out yet? He’s ten minutes late.”  
  
“Lou’s never late,” JC chimed in.   
  
Brian reached out and took Nick’s hand. Nick gave a weak smile and squeezed it. “Thank you,” he whispered. Brian squeezed back.  
  
AJ twirled the metal cables in his hands. He looked like a caged animal. His eyes shifted left and right as he spoke, “I think you guys’ve got it. Let’s fucking roll this out.” He stood and was joined by Lance and Joey, his muscle for this operation. As they crossed the room to the door, he turned and looked back at Brian as if he were about to say something, but he let it go and fell into step behind Lance.  
  
Nick looked up at Brian, eyes wide. “Bri… was AJ lying when he said that it would be OK?” Brian looked at him questioningly. “He said Lou’s a big guy, so it’ll just knock him out for a while. It can’t do any real damage. Is that true?”  
  
“Oh, yes,” replied Brian automatically. “Or, probably. At least, I hope so.”  
  
Nick nodded. “He’s done a lot of bad stuff but I don’t wanna kill him.”  
  
Brian sat down on the bench beside him and slid his arm around his friend’s shoulders. Nick relaxed into him. “Me neither, Nicky… but…” he added softly, “We gotta get out of here. We can’t stay here.”  
  
Nick nodded again and let his head fall against Brian’s shoulder. “We can’t stay here.”  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
“How close d’you reckon we can get?” Kevin asked, studying the marshy terrain as it unfolded below.  
Chris shook his head and adjusted a dial on the panel. They were flying low above the surface of Terra, making their way slowly and subtly to the Facility.   
  
“Not too close, I’d say,” Chris bit his lip. “I mean, we’re risking it to have them run too far but I think we’re risking more if we get too close.” Kevin nodded in agreement. “You know, I knew it was swampy but I never thought it would be this swampy. Is this the kinda climate you need to grow tea?”  
  
“Will you just shut up about the tea already?”  
  
“I just can’t believe,” Chris continued “that I could still manage to sell the tea for that much, what with your anti-social displays and what was frankly a frightening portrayal of a mad scientist in the background. Or maybe not a mad scientist – maybe more like a guy who thinks he’s a mad scientist, but really he’s just –”  
  
“Please be quiet about the tea,” Kevin pleaded. “We have enough to think about.”  
  
“Just admit that I am an amazing salesman and an incredible smuggler.” Chris toggled some levers in a way that Kevin was pretty sure was just for show.  
  
“If I do, will you stop crowing about all the money you made?”  
  
“I will stop crowing about all… the… money… I… made.”  
  
“Chris, I reckon you are an incredible smuggler and an amazing salesman.”  
  
Chris smiled. “Thank you.”  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
As Joey punched in the code to open the door to Lou’s private suite, AJ willed his heart to stop pounding. He closed his eyes and tried to prepare himself for whatever unknown thing they might find on the other side of the door.   
  
Hearing a huge sigh of relief from Lance, he opened his eyes. He saw Lou sprawled out on the floor beside the breakfast table where the tray lay. Whatever parts of his breakfast Lou hadn’t had time to finish now lay strewn across the floor alongside his unconscious body.   
  
“Oh, thank – ”  
  
Joey shushed Lance. “He could be faking it!” he hissed.  
  
“How could he be faking it if he didn’t know there was anything to fake?”  
  
“AJ said it was mostly tasteless, but he still could have –”  
  
“Guys!” AJ spoke up. “If he was faking it, the fucking jig is up by now. Just shut your mouths." Cautiously, he approached Lou’s prone figure. He reached out with his foot to gently prod Lou’s shoulder. No reaction. He nodded. “All right, come on. Joey, give the signal.” Joey gave three quick knocks on the wall and waited. A moment later came two slow knocks in return. He joined AJ and Lance at Lou’s side.   
  
Lance was kneeling beside Lou and working his right arm out from under his side to pull it behind his back. Joey pulled his left arm to the same position and AJ used the metal binding cables to chain them together, pulling them tighter until he heard the final click of the binders sliding into place. They began to do the same with his legs.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
“I think this is as far as we can go,” said Chris. Kevin nodded tensely and initiated the sequence to begin downward trajectory.  
  
“It’s gonna be OK, Kev,” Chris added. “I know it.”  
Kevin shook his head. When he spoke, his voice was barely a whisper. “I can’t afford to hope.”  
  
***********************************************************************  
When the three knocks came, JC leapt to his feet and raced across the room to the communicator. Justin shook his head with a smile and gave the answering two knocks.  
  
JC’s slim fingers entered the code AJ had given him. He reached forward to flick the switch, then, stopped to consider. It was probably safer not to switch on video until they could be sure of the other party’s identity. He flicked the switch beside it instead and leaned forward to speak into the microphone. “Ahoy,” he said.  
  
No response. JC tapped the speaker lightly and tried again. “Ahoy.”  
  
Rough and faint, a voice came through on the other end of the line. “Ahoy. Who’m I addressing?”  
  
Across the room, Brian stood suddenly. “That’s him,” he said softly. “That’s Kevin.”  
  
JC covered the speaker with his hand. “We have to be sure,” he mouthed.   
  
The speaker buzzed. “Can you tell me your coordinates?”  
  
JC grimaced. There it was. Trust AJ to think up a password. Did he have to respond? “The fuck would I tell you those for, asshole,” he muttered, sighing.   
  
It worked, though. “Brian?” JC could hear both hesitation and joy in the tinny voice.   
  
“He’s here, too,” JC flicked the switch, and an image filled the monitors. He saw the unbelieving face of a tall, green-eyed man light up in an ecstatic smile. The smaller, pale man beside him wore a grin, too.   
  
“I told you so,” the smaller man said.  
  
“Brian!” Kevin burst out. Brian stood beside JC, beaming up at the monitor.   
  
“You came for me, Kev.”  
  
“I can’t hardly believe you’re safe.”  
  
Brian nodded, still grinning. “Nicky, too. Nicky, come talk to Kevin!”  
  
Nick waved shyly and Kevin laughed.   
  
“It’s just like old times,” said Brian.   
  
“Almost, now,” replied Kevin. “You just hold tight. We’ll have you out of there in no time.”  
  
Chris leaned forward to address the group. “We got as close as we thought was safe, but you’ll still have to walk a ways. AJ’s put markers out there in the swamp, so if you follow those, you should be OK. Don’t stray off that path. Just make sure –”  
  
Just then, the doors opened to reveal AJ, Lance, and Joey. Kevin’s face lit up anew to see AJ safe, but his color rose a bit as he looked back and forth between his lover and his cousin. Brian didn’t appear to notice anything amiss; he was still grinning from ear to ear.   
  
“All systems go,” said AJ. “You ready to get the fuck going?”  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
The fact of their freedom hit them all that once. They tried to tread carefully through the swamp but couldn’t help running, jumping, laughing, and pushing each other, shouting for joy all the while. They splashed peaty mud everywhere and didn’t care. JC lost a boot in the muck and pulled it up again full of slime, making everyone laugh. AJ lost a boot as well and was unable to find it in the muck no matter how much he rooted around. Everyone giggled at his frustrated cursing until Nick located the boot and, in trying to tug it out, created a vacuum that sucked it quickly down beneath the peat. That sobered up the mood considerably, and they made their way through the mire more solemnly and carefully.   
  
After a few moments of cautious trudging, Justin broke the silence, “Are we gonna be OK?” he asked. “I mean, Lou’s not gonna catch us today, but…” he looked around the group and gestured at his own wiry arms. “Someone will find out and they’ll tell him. It’ll be worse. Maybe we can just go back now. I think we should. We can explain how –”  
  
“Explain what, Justin?” AJ asked. “Even if he’s still out cold, he’s gonna know what we did. He’s not stupid.”  
  
JC put an arm around Justin’s shoulders. “It’s gonna be all right, man. This is the best thing to do.”  
  
Justin looked down at the ground. Joey and Lance exchanged knowing glances. Justin had been there for too long. Lou had gotten him too young. He didn’t know enough about the real world to truly want to leave, and he probably half-believed most of Lou’s lies about it. In fact, Lou might even be the closest thing Justin knew to a father.  
  
“I still think… ” Justin shook his head. “Can we just leave him there? I think we have to do something.”  
  
“We’re gonna tell someone,” said JC, squeezing his shoulder. “The troopers. Once we get far enough away, we’ll let them know that he’s out there.”   
  
Justin brightened, but his face fell again when he caught sight of Brian’s worried expression.  
  
“You reckon we can we do that, AJ?” Brian asked as if he already knew the answer.   
  
AJ frowned, deliberating. “I really don’t know. We might be able to do that without selling out Kevin and Chris… but who knows what Lou would tell the troopers? We might end up in a lot more fucking trouble than we already are.”  
  
Brian weighed this. “Maybe, maybe not. We’ll ask Kevin. He’ll know what to do.”  
  
“He probably will,” AJ smiled.   
  
They walked on for a few more minutes in uneasy silence until Nick stopped and squinted. “Is that…” he pointed at something ahead in the trees. “Brian, do you see that?”  
  
Brian’s face broke into a grin. “That’s it, isn’t it!” He turned to AJ, whose smile told him all he needed to know. He let out a whoop of joy and pumped his fist in the air. “Kevin!” he yelled. “Kevin!”  
  
Trying to contain their excitement, they made their way across the short distance, watching the hatch open and the ramp slowly lower. Nick and AJ allowed themselves to fall behind working to help the others find a safe path through a particularly mucky area. AJ laced his fingers together and Brian stepped on them to get a final boost up onto the ramp, where Kevin was waiting for him with an enormous smile on his face.   
  
Brian grabbed his cousin and hugged him tight, laughing in disbelief. Kevin felt his eyes fill with tears as he pounded Brian on the back. The others worked their way onto the ship around this display of affection, trading handshakes and a word or two with Chris.   
  
Finally, AJ rested his hand on Kevin’s shoulder and squeezed. “Time to move this party on board. We gotta get going, Kev.” Kevin withdrew from the embrace and followed AJ and Brian indoors.   
  
“Yeah, I reckon we do gotta get goin’,” he said, “but it looks like some of us are also a little jealous.” He bent to kiss AJ on the mouth. AJ laughed and pulled a lever down. The ramp began to draw up behind them.   
  
“Nicky,” said Kevin, stepping forward for another hug. “You’re all right, too. I’m so happy to see you.” Nick squeezed him back tightly.   
  
“We all shut and locked down?” came Chris’s voice from the cockpit, where he had retreated.   
  
“Yeah,” called AJ. “Anytime.”   
  
“All right!” Chris yelled back. The ship began to hover. “Let me just get us clear of these trees and –” WHOOOOOOOOSH.   
  
Nick let out a cackle of glee, feeling the kickback, and everybody cheered as the ship launched into the stratosphere.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Later, a safe distance from Terra, they were all enjoying a meal of fresh fruits and grains.   
  
“Yeah, we gotta eat these first,” Chris was saying. “The fruits, cause, well, they’ll spoil. They’ll spoil so bad we’ll get space rot bugs.”  
“What are space rot bugs?” Justin asked.  
  
“Nasty little things,” Chris shuddered. “OK, they don’t exist yet, but we’ll get them for sure if we let this perfectly good fruit get to rotting.”  
  
Nobody seemed quite sure how to take this remark, but AJ and Kevin laughed. This reasonably assured the others that Chris was not some kind of lunatic, and the mood lightened a bit.   
  
“We gotta eat the grains,” Chris continued, “because if we—”  
  
“Not to sound like a fucking ingrate or anything,” AJ swallowed, dodging a watch-your-mouth look from Kevin. “…but you guys definitely didn’t have any of this stuff a couple days ago. Where the hell did you get it?”  
  
“Chris sold the tea,” Kevin spoke up quickly, trying to keep Chris from telling the entire story over dinner. It could wait. “We got a lot of money and bought up a right lot of supplies, so as we could keep feeding all of us on here.”  
  
Chris interrupted. “Well, actually…” He finished chewing and swallowed. “That’s not exactly how it went down.” All eyes were on him. “I, uh, well… there was another smuggler. In a similar bind as I was. And you know, kindred spirits – like calls to like and all that– I felt bad for the guy and uh, we arranged a trade. I gave him all that tea. And he gave me tons of food and supplies…” He took another bite, chewing slowly and deliberately, “…plus some other stuff to move.”  
  
“What?” Kevin’s eyebrows furrowed. “What’d he give you?”  
  
Chris frowned. “I don’t really wanna get into it right now. It’s nothing that bad!” he hurried to explain, “but I wanna give it some thought before I go blabbing on about it.”  
  
“For the first time in your life,” AJ said with a grin. Chris flicked a bit of fruit at him and AJ ducked.   
  
“The thing is… I do have some idea of how I wanna move it, and it’s gonna take a lot of people. So I was wondering if maybe you lot would stay on and help me for a while. As my crew, I mean.” Chris glanced around the table, surveying the motley crew. “How about it? It’s a good place to stay. I won’t make you build any crazy weapons or shoot you into space or carve stuff into your skin. Maybe if you get drunk and fall asleep, I might draw on your face then, sure, but that’s a totally different story. Completely justifiable. We got food here and water and beds. What else do you need?”  
  
Looking at their smiling faces, Chris was satisfied. “Great.” He leaned back. “Kev, I was thinking, though… we might need somebody who’s good at reading people. Someone for real subtle communications. A peacemaker, even. Do you think your friend Howie might be available?”  
  
“Howie! Howie’s always wanted to leave Sentosa! He wants to see the universe!” Nick burst out excitedly.   
  
Kevin grinned. “I reckon we do hafta get him on the communicator, let him know these two are all right. Don’t see why we can’t ask him.”  
  
“Great,” said Brian. “It looks like we’re gonna be together for a while.”  
  
AJ smiled and reached for Kevin’s hand out of sight under the table.  
  
“Oh come on, guys! Do that up where everyone can see! We’re gonna be keeping close quarters and I don’t want you trying to keep this crap a secret and having it end up like it did this one time – did I tell you? I think I told you, Kevin – when I was there with this girl and these two guys…”  
Kevin and AJ joined hands between their plates. Brian smiled a little. Kevin leaned back contentedly, tuning out the familiar story to focus on the faces of the people that he loved.   
  
“…and we thought he was cool, but it turned out he was packing this, I dunno, fire-throwing –”  
  
AJ leaned forward to whisper in Kevin’s ear. “It’s gonna be good, isn’t it.”  
  
“…but you never would’ve believed the way he busts in there, like a big, red –”  
  
JC was trying to stack up his grain to build a mountain. Justin kept knocking it down with his fork when he wasn’t looking.  
  
“…and so there she is, with her legs in the air and –”  
  
Brian snickered and poked Nick in the ribs. Nick poked him back.  
  
“…waving that thing around and then it catches fire—”  
  
Lance burst out laughing and choked on a sip of water and Joey whacked him on the back.  
  
“…and he said, 'Ouch!' And I said, 'Oh, I thought it was a—”  
  
“It’s gonna be great, I reckon” Kevin whispered and kissed AJ’s cheek.


End file.
